High Prevalence of Liddle Syndrome Phenotype Among Hypertensive US Veterans in Northwest Louisiana

channel and is perceived to bea rare condition. A cross-sectional study of 149hypertensive patients with hypokalemia( 25 mmol⁄dL) was conducted at a Veterans’Administration Medical Center HypertensionClinic in Shreveport, LA. Data on demographics,blood pressure, and select blood tests werecollected and expressed as percentages forcategoric variables and as mean standarddeviation (SD) for continuous variables. Patientswere diagnosed with likely LS when the plasmarenin activity (PRA) was 15 ng⁄dL. The cohort included predominantlyelderly (67.1 13.4 years), male (96%), andCaucasian (57%) patients. The average bloodpressure was 143.8⁄79.8 mm Hg 27.11⁄15.20with 3.03 1.63 antihypertensive drugs. Based onthe above criteria, 9 patients (6%) satisfied thecriteria for likely LS and 10 patients (6.7%)were diagnosed with likely PHA. In thishypothesis-generating study, the authors detectedan unusually high prevalence of biochemicalabnormalities compatible with likely LSsyndrome from Northwestern Louisiana,approaching that of likely PHA. J Clin Hypertens(Greenwich). 2010;12:856–860.